Mattis explained that today drones are piloted remotely, but tomorrow weapons may be able to learn on their own, adapt and fire themselves.
"The most misnamed
weapon in our system is the
unmanned aerial vehicle. It may not have a person in the cockpit, but there is someone flying it, someone over his shoulder, and actually more people flying it than a manned airplane," he said.
"If we ever get to the point where it is completely on automatic pilot, we are all spectators. That is no longer serving a political purpose. And conflict is a social problem that needs social solutions, people—human solutions."
He said he did not know what
artificial intelligence will do to warfare, "but I am certainly questioning my original premise of the fundamental nature of war that does not change.